


Error 8246

by coconutcluster



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: ANGST ANGST ANGST BABEY, Angst, Loceit - Freeform, M/M, Taunting, but not really?, logicality - Freeform, theyre not together! but Dee plays off the logicality
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-03
Updated: 2018-12-03
Packaged: 2019-09-06 02:43:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,215
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16823527
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/coconutcluster/pseuds/coconutcluster
Summary: Logan had a bit of a knack for seeing the truth.He wouldn’t call it a talent, of course, and certainly not a “sixth sense” as Roman so belatedly suggested - it was simply a tendency to notice changes in body language, a psychology trick, really, but crucial to his job; to correct any falsehoods Thomas told himself was one of his main duties, and the ability to identify them quickly was more than useful.But it wasn’t foolproof.(aka an angsty Loceit interaction, directly after the events of "Can Lying Be Good?")





	Error 8246

Logan had a bit of a knack for seeing the truth.

He wouldn’t call it a talent, of course, and certainly not a “sixth sense” as Roman so belatedly suggested - it was simply a tendency to notice changes in body language, a psychology trick, really. He’d told the others over and over that it was a learned skill - though he was proud of how quickly it came to him, he had even offered tips to them on a few occasions, small teaching opportunities he was glad to jump on. Most of all, he emphasized its importance to his job; to correct any falsehoods Thomas told himself was one of his main duties, and the ability to identify them quickly was more than useful.

But it wasn’t foolproof.

There was no guarantee on his lie detection. He missed things, rare as it may be, little things,  _ stupid  _ things, obvious things he should have seen, things he  _ would  _ have seen had it been anyone else, any other situation-

Not that he was holding a grudge of any sort, obviously. He was critical of his mistakes and quick to move on; that was the most efficient process for optimal growth in decision making skills and general common sense, so it was what he did, and that was that. 

And if his mind kept trailing back to the same moment, the same mistake, well, that was simply a glitch in the system. 

So he focused harder on the files before him, switching his dead pen for a fresh one to finish yet another page of corrections as he funneled his energy into red marks across scribbled letters. Glitches could be fixed. Annoying loops could be stopped. Mistakes couldn’t always be mended, but they could be learned from - caution was so often born from experience, after all. 

(To be cautious was simply logical; to be forced into caution by one’s own ignorance was anything but.)

_ Ignorance _ . The word was metallic on his tongue, an accusation he couldn’t refute, but there was something so underwhelming about it at the same time - it didn’t seem nearly strong enough a word to match his faux pas; even more frustrating was his inability to find a term with the right magnitude. If he only knew what to chalk it all up to, how to label his fault, he could file it away neatly to remember some later date when it was relevant, but it remained loud and nameless at the forefront of his mind, demanding attention with an all-too familiar grin-

He made the same bleeding mark for the third time before he felt his pen rip through the paper. 

Great.  _ Wonderful _ . The  _ last  _ thing needed was his absent mindedness to affect Thomas’ mind processes. 

Lifting the traitorous pen from the paper, he inspected the damage, a small, jagged tear, out of the way of anything important but frustrating nonetheless. He picked at the red-stained edges with a heavy sigh, his stomach turning. (From the work, of course. It was a bit overwhelming sometimes. That was it.) 

“Having trouble, Logan?”

Or, perhaps, it was that.

“Not at all,” Logan deadpanned without looking up - he had work to do, projects to finish with tight deadlines, and he had neither the time nor the composure to deal with this. Not now, not ever.

A hum sang out behind him. “Lying is only attractive on some people, darling, and you are certainly not one of them.”

Logan squeezed his eyes shut, curled his hands into fists and out again -  _ deep breaths, Logan _ \- and turned around in his desk chair to face the voice. “Don’t call me that,” he snapped, his patience with the figure across the room worn thin already.

Deceit sat primly on the edge of his bed, legs crossed and face slit by a slithery smirk, the tips of his fangs peeking out over his bottom lip, all too casual and annoyingly yellow among the flat blues of Logan’s room. The snake’s eyebrows raised as he perked up. 

“What,  _ darling _ ? My apologies, Logan, I just assumed…” Logan stared blankly at him - he would not play this silly game, not if he could help it - but Deceit just shrugged. “Because Patton uses it so often-”

“Yes, and imitating Patton went so well for you the first time, didn’t it?”

The snake’s smile only widened. “Ah, there’s the fire!” he cheered, giving a giddy round of applause that echoed around the room, grating and unadulterated by Logan’s stoic silence. “I did miss it earlier, you see; in fact, I thought I’d swing by and talk things out, since you seemed rather speechless upon my arrival.” He paused, as if for dramatic effect, glancing at the logical side through the corner of his eye - if he expected a reaction to his pun, Logan gave him none - as he sighed. “I do have that effect sometimes. It’s understandable, truly, but it makes for such boring conversation.”

“I have work to do, Deceit.” Logan turned decidedly back to his desk, picking up his pen and grabbing another file from the stack beside him. “By all means, you’re welcome to keep rambling, but I make absolutely no promises to acknowledge you.”

A low chuckle reached his ears, and his bed frame creaked as Deceit stood. “You needn’t play hard to get,  _ Lo-Lo _ ,” the snake drawled, a slitted grin clear in his voice, though Logan refused to glance back, even as he felt the back of his chair shift with the weight of someone leaning on it. “We both know I could have you with one little transformation. Glasses,” Deceit sang, “polo, cardigan - charming, by the way - and a bit of a bounce to the voice, right? Simple as that.” 

The image of Patton, eyebrow raised and lips pursed, so intrinsically  _ wrong _ , flashed through Logan’s mind for the hundredth time that evening as Deceit’s voice clawed through his head.  _ Simple as that _ . His face flushed - anger, frustration, discomfort,  _ whatever  _ \- and he planted his feet on the floor, pushing back in his chair as hard as he could; the shocked grunt that echoed behind him brought the slightest flicker of a smile to his face as he stood and spun to face Deceit once more, hands curled into fists. “Get out of my room,” he demanded, his voice surprisingly even. 

A twinkle hit the snake’s eyes as his face broke out in a smile once more, arms thrown up in a half-hearted peacemaking gesture, and he gave Logan an exaggerated pout. “Oh, but I did  _ so  _ want to talk! We could discuss anything you’d like.” Head tilted to the side, Deceit tapped his chin, humming a little ditty to himself as he studied the ceiling with shallow contemplation, and, without giving Logan a chance to speak, gasped, “Philosophers, perhaps?”

_ Someone once posed a dilemma to Kant-  _

A burst of pain traveled along Logan’s jaw as he ground his teeth together, and he jabbed a finger to his door. “Get  _ out _ .”

“You should have seen the look on your face,” Deceit continued, taking a strident step towards the logical side, laughing as Logan took another back, maintaining the distance between them. “Roman, I expected, but if I had realized how easy it was to fool you, Logan, I would have done it a long time ago - seeing Logic, of all figments,  _ flustered _ ? My, it truly was too much fun.”

“ _ Deceit _ , get-”

“I knew Patton was powerful, of course, with Thomas’ ideals of virtue and whatnot,” another step, “but this was something else entirely, was it not?” 

Another step, and Logan’s back was already pressed to the wall - the door was only a couple feet to his left, but the doorknob was just out of reach - as Deceit’s smile widened. The distance between them was closing, closing, even quicker with Deceit’s long strides, and just as Logan’s hand twitched for the knob, the snake was in front of him, one gloved hand curled around his tie, yanking him forward until their noses were inches apart. 

“This was something special,” Deceit said, his voice a hiss in Logan’s ear - a shiver ran down his spine, but he forced himself to stay still, to grab the snake’s wrist with white knuckles, though Deceit barely flinched as he continued cheerfully, “Something just for you, right? If only Patton hadn’t interrupted, we could have played around with it a bit more.” A rush of fire blossomed in the logical side’s chest at that. Deceit raised his eyebrows. “What’s wrong, Logan? Cat got your tongue? Or should I say-”

“Don’t.” Deceit just simpered, and Logan’s patience was quickly dwindling. “This is all very entertaining, but unfortunately for you, you’re nothing like Patton, and you never will be. You’re a character, Deceit; a figment that happens to be good at copying what you see and telling lies to support it. Your existence is a game, and a relatively pointless one at that.”

The grip on his tie tightened - it started to constrict around his throat, but he maintained eye contact with the grinning snake before him as Deceit tsked. “Let’s just leave the lying to me, shall we? I made an awfully convincing Patton earlier, I’d say; convincing enough that you didn’t notice. Or did you simply not say anything? Did you not care that your Patton was gone, or did you really not know?” Deceit’s fangs glistened even in the dim lighting of Logan’s room, eyes alight with something wild, something far too knowing for Logan’s comfort. “Was it apathy, Logan? Or was it ignorance?”

_ To be forced into caution by one’s own ignorance was anything but logical. _

“Get off me.”

That hissed chuckle dissipated through the room once more. “How does Patton feel about it all, Logan?”

“I said get  _ off  _ me.”

“Does he know about it? Does he know you couldn’t even tell the difference between your little sweetheart and a copy?”

“Leave him out of this-”

“Oh! Would you rather we focus on you?” And Deceit shoved him back again, forcing his shoulder blades uncomfortably against the wall as the snake waved his free hand through the air, counting off on his gloved fingers, “How about the fact that you were clueless for nearly an hour, Logan? You’re the analytical one, even on the most basic level - I expected better from you! How about, even after all the little slip-ups on my part, you thought nothing of it all? Or how you still haven’t apologized to your  _ darling  _ for hardly noticing his absence? Are your pride and incompetence getting in the way of that one, Logan?” Deceit’s smile dropped for an innocent frown. “Oh, but that doesn’t bother you, does it,  _ Lo _ ? It’s just a  _ glitch  _ \- isn’t that right?” 

“Get the Hell off me, Deceit.  _ Now _ .”

“No worries, though,” the snake continued airily, his grip on Logan’s tie steady, “I’m sure Patton won’t mind. Emotions just aren’t your  _ thing _ , are they? But truly, I’m sure he’ll understand, pick up your slack as usual-”

And then, as if on call, the sweet voice that usually sent flutters through Logan’s chest carried from down the hall, singsong and laced with concern, but all the logical side felt was a spike of fear: “Logan? Hon, are you still up?”

Deceit’s eyes lit up, and his fingers curled tighter around Logan’s tie, almost absentmindedly. “Well,” he mumbled, his face breaking out in a sharp smile as Logan glanced wildly between him and the door, “speak of the devil.”

“Don’t touch him,” the logical side growled - it came out far more shaky than he intended, all former composure crumbling into an ardent desperation as Patton’s footsteps fell closer and closer to his bedroom door. 

But Deceit just sighed. “Fear not, my dear Logic; playtime’s over.” He finally released Logan’s tie from his grip, taking a step back and throwing the logical side a wink that made his stomach turn, giving one last acerbic laugh. “Lovely talk, though. Perhaps we can do it again sometime.” 

He laced his fingers together, glanced to the door as the knob jiggled, straightened up - and he was gone. 

Logan watched the empty spot for a few seconds. He stared, eyes wide and blinking too fast, half expecting the snake to reappear at any moment, before he slid down the wall at his back, his hands curled into the carpet like a lifeline. 

He was vaguely aware of Patton knocking - he wanted to answer, wanted to feel the moral side’s arms around him, to ground him to what was here and now and not in some shadowy realm of the Mindscape, but the words got caught in his throat, as they always did - and eventually shuffling off with a soft, wan “Goodnight, ‘nilla bean,” his footsteps fading slowly down the hall. Logan felt something tighten in his chest, an ugly, slithering thing, constricting around his heart like a snake’s coil.

And he felt time tick by - he felt his eyes grow heavy, felt his wrists start to tremble - but he was stuck in a loop all over again, a whole new glitch in the system, replaying every moment of the last six hours, every mistake and shortcoming and fallacy in quick succession.  _ Ignorance. Pride. Incompetence.  _

But glitches could be fixed. Sometimes, you just had to wait them out.


End file.
